Process of finishing the raw edges of leather.



b. S. HALSEY 2 G. G- PERKINS. PROCESS OF FINISHING THE RAW EDS-ES OF LEATHER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 6, 19'10.

Patented Dec. 1731912.

15- rounded rich or NEW J'EnsEY.

oFFIoE.

Enwsnn sQHALsEY m GEORGE c. rERx'iNs or trim; MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS I '.l.0 UNITED SHOE MACHINERY OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORA- f income or rinrsmo THE-BAWEDGES'OF LEATHER.

' Specification of; Letters Patent. Patnted Dec, 17, 1912,

a ncmoa'mea June stem. Serial m..- seaan.

To allwhom it may concern: I Be itck'nown that we, EDWARD S. IHALsE'Y and' GEOlilGE G.-PEnKnvs,' citizens of the United States and Canada, respectively, re-

. siding-ML in the county of Essex and- State of ssachusetts', have invented certain newiand' useful Improvements in P iceesse's fof'fFinishiugthe Bad Edges of leather, of which; thefollowing is a full and 'complete description;

Our invention relates to a modeof finishing the-raw edges ofleather-pieces, particularly such as are used inv the manufacture of shoe up ers,.so as to produce smoothly ges in place .of the raw edges formed by cutting. the leather, at. those -plaoes"-in 'the'finished article where the edges of the leather pieces-are e osed.

The'invention consists in a 1110 e of producing this effect without folding the leather, :b' {shrinking one'surfaee of the leather .(t e surface which hidden when the leather piece is in use)- along a-line at or close. to. the ed e: which is .to' be finished,v whereby such e e is drawn or curled over toward the surface ;acted u' on. The shrink ing is preferably accomplished b heat of such an intensity as to sear and s rivel the portion of the leather to which it is applied.

Our objects are primarily save the time,

labor and expense of skivmg, cementing, folding back and presing the edges particularly as is required in high grade shoe making; to produce at least an equally good result as with the more laborious method referred to and to save the leather wasted .in I

folding. x

Referring to the drawings which'illustrate the devices weuse incarrying out our inventionsimilar numerals refer to similar "parts .throughout the several views in .WlllCh-- Figure l is a front elevation, Fig. 2 a

ugh the-line 3-3 of Fig.2. Fig. 4 is a s nal enlarged cross sectional view of the lea her scorching point and leather holding plate ,of -F i 3; Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross section rough the scorching tool holder at the line. 5-5 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective of a. piece of leather after having been finished by our.

rocess. Fig. 7 isa side view of the gas eated scorching point which can be substiplan and Fig. 3 a side view in cross section l-l scorching tool shown'throughoutthe other Views, with whi h it is interchangeable.

To describe he process in detail the leather indicated by 6 being carried and fed toward the observer by the turn table wheel 2 driven by a belt 29 and. guided and crowded by crowding caster 3 against and past the circular center stud or raised portion 28 of wheel 2 having the upward curving shoulder 27 which deflects theedge of the leather upward against the scorching point and the forked overhanging extension retaining fingers 26 of the upper plate 10. It will be observed that this upper plate 10 is joined to the lower plate 11 by means of the three posts 13 1313 constituting the frame of the machine which carries the turn tablepulley 2 mounted on a vertical shaft .15 stepped in' an externally threaded bearing '14 passing through an extension on the loweryp ate 11 and adjusted in position byl-J--i.i -Ill1t 21. The upper side of the turn table is centered by ,a pin 7 extending down from the upper plate and lubricated from the well beneat filled with oil saturated material 23.

Risingconcentrically above said turn table is the vertical suspension post 5, the bottoin end of which is turned down slightly for a shoulder and riveted securely into the to plate.\ The centering pin for the turn ta 1c is a lturned down extension from this post. Saif'd upright post serves to support the scorching tool 9 through the medium of the yoke "5 to which they both are fitted and are clamped by set screws. This post also suppo' ts the crowding caster stem 4 through thexzie diumof yoke 31 which is'adjustably SW and clamped at the center oft-he top of-stud post by a strong screw. The outer end of this arm or yoke has fixed to it a collar 31 fitted with a set screw adapted to hold and adjust the position of said stem 4 both laterallyffand longitudinally.

\Vhile we show onlytwo implements for shrinking the back edge of the-leather it is obvious that any other tool that would cause the desired curling back by means of the'drawing or shrinking up-of the back edge wouldcome within thespirit of ouriiiven'tion' Of the two scorching or curling tools we show we prefer the electrical], heated platinum wiretip of two turns s iown mounted with holder'in position in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4.

The gas heated r001 shown in Fig. 7 is" interchangeable with the electrically heated one and consists of the tubular holder 9 which conducts a suitable mixture of gas and air from the rubber tube 30to the hot platinum point 1 where it passes through an interior platinum gauze packing causing internal combustion and heating the point to a bright red or white heat after which 10 it passes on out to a small vent hole as in the ordinary pyrographic' oint. lVe prefer the electrically-heated p atinum wire because it is more easily uniformly heated and because we have succeeded in working out 5 a way of making 1ts degree of heat self-regulating to a large extent. We accomplish this bythe following means first by taking our current from a source of constant potential and arranging the resistance of the g conducting leads up to the platinum wire so as to be relatively negligible as compared to the resistance of the platinum wire.

Thus the resistance of the platinum wire becomes the dominating factor in determining the current flow and as its resistance increases rapidly with the temperature, the current' and 1ts heat-ing effect is checked before the wire gets dangerously hot. Likewise when the leather is being pushed under the wire its cooling effect is compensated for by an increased current throughflthe lowered resistance. A further compensation for cooling by the leather is afforded 'by gi'ying the platinum wire a sutIicient-ly high initial temperature to expel combustible gases from the leather in large enough quantitics to excite catalytic heating of the platinum and also cause surface combustion.

, \Ve find that when the leather is under the 0 hot poin. it 15 more or less plastic and that while the desired curling effect can be secured by simply searing the back edge of the leather by the highly heated point stilla more uniform and more complete backward curl can be secured by the additional employment of mechanical molding of the leather while plastic beneath the heated point, by crowding it between the point. and the rounded molding curve 27- formed between the face of the turn-'table and-the cen-' tral raised edge guidin portion 28. 'This molding curve must be. orm'ed to the sha e.

desired to be communicated to the leather ed e. it should be understood that the grain or finished side of the leather indicated by'G lies downward and is curled upward by the heat and the curved corner 27 and-also by the mere crowdin 'of the edge of the leather up against the szde of the small circular raised portion of the turn table 28 which acts as the l" ick-stop and which on account of resisting thebackward crowding of the leather by the small restricted area. of its ficircular edge gives a decided upward turn to the edge of the leather throwing it against the scorching point and the overhanging tips 26 of the top plate.

It is to be understood that our process not only effects a permanent curling back and molding of the leather edge in the desired form, but that it also effects a smoothing and evening of the edge acted upon, burning off irregularities when the edge is ragged. A further result of the process is that the leather is darkened or blackened owing to the fact that the temperature applied by the hot tool is sutliciently high structive distillation of the leather, carbon= izing to some extent the portion acted upon. We have found that any reconstructive temperature that is sutiiciently high to sear, momentarily render plastic and coagulate the flesh side of the leather, leaving it in a hardened, permanently shrunken state upon cooling, will answer in carrying 'out our process, and that temperatures of scarcely a to commence dered heat may be made to accomplish this to In order'to secure the best commercial results and eificient speed, however, we'prefer to use scorching tools heated to a bright red or a white heat, dependent upon the character of leather treated and the rapidity with a greater or less degree, dependent upon the kind of leather treated and the speed with. which it is passed under the heated point.

which it ispossible for the operator (de pendent on his skill) to guideand manipulate the leather. As each kind and tan ofleatheris ditterently affected by the temperature of the tool and velocity of feed, the speed andtemperature requires adjustment by the operator to secure the most perfect results oifa'i 'y par ticular grade of stock.

Om account of the hightemperature and speed" with narrow contact of the burning oint and non-conducting properties of the eather thescorching and 'shrivcling.of the back edge does not penetrate the body or front side of the leather so that its usefulness is not impaired. 4 It should be borne in. mind that the finished leath'r edge shown in Figs! and 6 is relatively is quite narrow-so as to come on tin-enlarged scale and outside 'the'narrow seams or-stitches used in.

shoe making.

Referring to our preferred scorching moi more particularly shown in Figs. 4 and 5 the holder is constructed of a metal tube 9 having forced down through it two' half round insulation covered brass strips 8 and 8 the top ends of which are bent outward and tapped out for binding screws while thcbottom ends are drilled or slotted for soldering in the two ends of the platinum wire,

lVe prefer to use a platinum wire of from twenty to twenty-four gage for use with light leather such as isused in the uppers of ladiesshocs, and to have the wire twisted "scorching, the';mner one more 'efiectually .dition'tbxi he shrinking.

' caster that when the ather. is fed by the .dual grip of said paste'rjonthe leather it will give to.it a constantly crowdingpressurg o 454 machine's havejbeen made that imam by ours and much less permanent an factory, at number of. which simpl I or iron-[eitherthe raw ed e itself-j may heated irons (of abdlifiZZfiO .arefal'so avfiare .that ironsfliea moderate temperatures have into a double loop as to make dual conarm 31'laterally, and vertically b mov ng tact with the leather although it is obvious that differentsizesof wiresjcan be used and even desirably -for other kinds of.leather'. Also'that the single loop wire can be used and may be desirable in certain cases, also; a cheaper wire may be. used sueh'as nickel or its allo sat :lower'temperature's with a measure oi success. We prefer, however, to use the double loop.- platinum wire at 'a bright red or lwhiteheats One advantage of thehdouble'loop is -the double trail of efl'ectin thecurling, and thejone; at the extreme e ge blackening andsm'oothing in ad- We wish; aas be understood thatour invention not limitedto' the ofa heated leather,-,.b'u't t at 'any='means-.'w atevetca. ab'le oi beingl apflied so as .tq'heati-the e edipqrfi s so t -l hs la h t m e ture desired'j and for the rief' period of time, over 'a' su-fiicient y area or path, is within the sco e 'ofi'qur inv'ention .For instance, it woul not be adeparture from the invention to employ a suitably directed and protected flame-or, jet of steam or blast of heated gas as the-heating agent. of I i It should be observed that the 'twin' crowding. caster 3 is 'ad'ustable in every direction, circumferenti 1y by swinging its. round vertical stem 4 under. e thumb screw32; and that both disksare fixed to the same shaft. i '3, Itwillbe observed from 'the direction of rotation of 'the turn table and th'e'ofi-set and relatively canted osition of said twin against the curved central stopstud 28 the turn table with the desired'result;' We wish .to-state that it is not absolutely but not so unifor have the crowding caster as it is possible to }f1eeddand crowdt e leatherfbackentirel by.

p i Wea're' a' flare-that various 9 8 difierent kinds of edges from t more! it colored wait with eit generations for burnishing the edges and see of leather all of which we disclaim The machine herein shown for carrying out our process is not claimed in this application, but such a machine is shown, described and claimed in our co-pending application, Ser. No. 670,801.

What we do claim is: I. The processv of edging leather which consists in searing a narrow portion of the :flesh side-0f a leather piece at, andin close proximity to, its margin, and thereby con-r ractin'g said portion, and causing the. mar- V ginal portion of the grain side to curl toward the flesh side.

1 2.'The process of edging leather which consists in searing a narrow portionof one side of a leather piece along a line in close proximityzto the margin; andat the same time exerting pressure on the edge-of the "leather piece, the heat and. pressure acting simultaneously-to curl the marginal portion of the-0 .posite side toward the side acted upon an form'a finished edge. a

3. The process of edging leather. which consists in searing a narrow portion ofthe flesh side of a leather piece alon a line in close proximity to the-margin o the piece and at the same time exerting pressure against-the surfaces of the flesh and grain sides of the piece near the margin thereof, 'theheat and pressure acting simultaneously to curl the marginal portion of the grain side toward ished'edg'eJ v p 4.- The: process of, edging leather which the flesh side and form a .fin

consists in s'earmg. a narrow portion of a -side of a leather piece valon' a line in close proximity-to the margin 0 the piece, 1 1

"pactin and smoothing the material to form a finis .ed edge. 7

5.;The process of edging leather which :0 .reatmfi a narrdw portion proggessively a ong t e, flesh side of a leather it momentarily lasti a d shrivel it, at the same-time exertmg' pressure alon the 'edge simultaneo y toeurlthe'marginal rtion of thegrain-side toward the flesh dezand fornia finished-edge. 1 a

The ofQcd'ging leather which 0 seatheraw ge-andf-anarnew portion o i fixe'fleshside of a leather piece along a line parallel to-and adjoining 1 said edge, therebyshrinking said portions, at the same time smoothing, hardening and 'darkeningthem to foi-m a finished edge.

7; The process of edging leather which iece a-pathat, and extending slightly' ackits margin, sufliciently to render ofithe leather piece the heat an pressure "150' its edge to a consists in momentarily passing under a suit- -leatherto produce a finished etlect along the exposed edge of said piece.

8. The process of finishing the raw edge of a leather piece, which consists in subjecting one surface of the piece along a line close destructive temperature, for a period of tiinc'sufi icient to cause searing of the surface, acted upon and insuflicient to afi'ecttheopposite surface, whereby the edge is caused to curl toward the surface acted on.

9. The process of finishing the raw edge of a leather piece, which consists in searing one surface of the leather on a line or path of sharply defined and limited width, closelyadjacent to, and approximately parallel 20 with, the edge of the piece, whereby the portion acted upon contracts and draws back the edge of the piece.

10. The method of forming-a finished rounded edge on leather, which consists in heating one side of the leather piece at the edge thereof to the temperature at which decomposition of the leather commences, for a period insufficient-to injure the opposite side, whereby the side acted upon is shriveled and contracted, and the opposite side at the edge is curled o'ver.

Having described our invention we herewith set our hands this third day of June -EDW'ARD S. HALSEY. GEORGE G. PERKINS. Witnesses:

FRANK E. LONGLEY, FRED W. SCHATZ. 

